Apparatus and method for creating new reports from a consolidated data mart

ABSTRACT

The invention includes a computer readable memory with a consolidated data mart generator to generate a consolidated data mart based upon an analysis of a repository of individual reports. A report generation tool produces a report via access to the consolidated data mart.

This application is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S. Ser. No.10/328,744, filed Dec. 23, 2002, entitled “Apparatus and Method forCreating New Reports from Discrete Reports”.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the generation of reports. Moreparticularly, this invention relates to a technique for using reports asa data source in order to create consolidated reports based uponindividual reports.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are a number of commercially available products to create reportsfrom data stored in a database. Business Objects Americas of San Jose,Calif., sells a number of widely used report generation products,including Crystal Reports™, Crystal Analysis™, Crystal Enterprise™, andBusiness Objects Enterprise™.

Known report generation tools access a database each time a report needsto be generated. This can result in large numbers of database accessesthat slow down the report generation process. In addition, since asingle database is used, it is difficult to decentralize databaseactivity.

Another limitation associated with existing report generation tools isthat the creation of a new form of report commonly requires therebuilding of the database schema, which can be complex and timeconsuming. Another problem with existing report generation tools is thatthey have difficulty merging data from multiple databases into a singlereport. This problem is especially acute in the case where the databasesare from different vendors (e.g., Oracle®, IBM®, Microsoft®).

Databases have their data updated on a regular basis. While this isimportant from the standpoint of data consistency, it createsdifficulties in obtaining snapshots of data at different points in time.

In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to provide animproved technique for generating reports to overcome some of thelimitations associated with existing report generation tools.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention includes a computer readable memory with a consolidateddata mart generator to generate a consolidated data mart based upon ananalysis of a repository of individual reports. A report generation toolproduces a report via access to the consolidated data mart.

The invention also includes a method of forming a report by analyzing arepository of individual reports, generating a consolidated data martbased upon data collected during the analyzing, and producing a reportbased upon information within the consolidated data mart.

The invention includes an alternate method of forming a report wherein areport repository is defined with individual reports produced fromdatabase information. Selected data is loaded from various individualreports of the report repository to form a consolidated data mart. Areport based upon information within the consolidated data mart is thenproduced.

The invention provides a technique that allows data from individualreports to be accessible by standard reporting tools. That is, theselection of data from individual reports to form a consolidated datamart results in a data repository that can be used by standard reportingtools. The invention facilitates the creation of reports that showtrends across data found in various reports. The invention is able toaccess and process snapshots of data. The invention allows the mergingof data from multiple databases, having either similar or disparateformats. In addition, the invention facilitates the decentralization ofdatabase computational activity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention is more fully appreciated in connection with the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the operation of consolidated report generation inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates processing operations performed in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of portions of reports used to create aconsolidated report in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface that may be used to create aconsolidated report in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates another user interface that may be used to create aconsolidated report in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 6-9 illustrate specific reports that may be used to create aconsolidated report in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a consolidated report created from the informationof the specific reports of FIGS. 6-9 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates the operation of expanding information in aconsolidated report in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates the result of drilling through information withinthe report of FIG. 11 to obtain a detailed base report.

FIG. 13 illustrates a computer network architecture that may be utilizedto implement embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates a consolidated report architecture that utilizes areport as a root object in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 15 illustrates a consolidated report architecture that utilizes aroot object in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16 illustrates the generation of a consolidated report from aconsolidated data mart in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 17-30 illustrate various Graphical User Interfaces that may beused to invoke the operations of the invention and to display theresults of the operations of the invention.

Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates the operation of consolidated report generation inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. In accordance with theprior art, a database 20 is accessed by a conventional report generationtool 22 to produce a set of reports 24A-24N. In the prior art, if a newreport is to be created, the report generation tool 22 must be used toaccess the database 20 to create a new report.

In accordance with the invention, a consolidated report generator 26 isused to produce a consolidated report 28 based upon the informationcontained in the previously generated reports 24A-24N. In other words,the consolidated report generator 26 does not access the data in thedatabase 20; rather, the consolidated report generator 26 uses the datain the reports 24A-24N as a data source to produce a new consolidatedreport 28.

FIG. 2 illustrates processing operations associated with an embodimentof the invention. Initially, a report repository of individual reportsis created or defined from database information (block 30). A reportrepository is simply a collection of reports. The individual reports maybe created with a conventional report generation tool, such as CrystalReports™, Crystal Analysis™, Crystal Enterprise™, or Business ObjectsEnterprise™ sold by Business Objects Americas, San Jose, Calif.

By way of example, FIG. 3 illustrates four individual reports 32A-32D.Each individual report provides information for a quarter of a calendaryear. Thus, there is a first quarter report 32A, a second quarter report32B, a third quarter report 32C, and a fourth quarter report 32D. Inthis example, each report 32 has a customer field 34, an employee field36, an employee address field 38, and an orders field 40, as shown inFIG. 3. The orders field 40 has a set of sub-fields, including an orderID field 42, an order amount field 44, a customer ID field 46, a quartersales field 48, an order date field 50, a required date field 52, a shipdate field 54, a courier website field 56, a ship via field 58, ashipped field 60, a Purchase Order number field 62, and a paymentreceived field 64.

Returning to FIG. 2, the next processing operation is to selectconsolidated report criteria (block 70). FIG. 4 illustrates a graphicaluser interface 72 that may be used in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention to facilitate this operation. The graphical user interface72 may be used to display a series of reports in a repository ofreports. In this example, the available reports 32A-32D correspond tothe reports 32A-32D shown in FIG. 3. In one embodiment of the invention,specific fields in the selected reports are then selected. The graphicaluser interface 74 of FIG. 5 shows a set of fields corresponding to thefields illustrated in the exemplary reports of FIG. 3. In this example,the quarter sales filed 48 is selected.

Alternate techniques may be used to select consolidated report criteria.In another embodiment of the invention, a prompt is provided for a datasource. For example, the data source may be a report file path or a pathof a directory that contains multiple report files. Preferably, a datacontext for a report path can be defined to limit the amount of viewedinformation. For example, a special character (e.g., “?”) can beappended to a report path to limit information to selected fields of areport. Thus, for example, assuming a base report grouped by region, tosee only the Quarterly sales records for the U.S. in a report, thefollowing report path and data context can be used: c:\\DirectoryName\Report Name.rpt?datacontext=/Country[US]. This example assumes abase report that is grouped by country and customer. Specifying the sumof sales in a country within the base report results in a consolidatedreport listing this information. One can generate trend data for allcountries (e.g., datacontext=/Country[*]) or trend data for a selectedcountry (e.g., datacontext=/Country[US]).

In one embodiment of the invention, a consolidated report of theinvention is created through the following instruction sequence:

-   -   1. On a standard toolbar, click New.    -   2. In a Reports Gallery, click As a Blank Report and then OK.    -   3. In a Database dialog box, expand Create New Connection and        click OLE DB.    -   4. From a Provider list, select a Rowset Provider and click        Next.    -   5. In a Data Source field, enter the name of the reports file(s)        to use in the consolidated report.    -   6. Click Finish. (A data source called Reports is added to the        OLE DB folder.)    -   7. Add the Reports data source to the Selected Tables area and        click OK.

At this point, a consolidated data source is ready for use as any otherdata source for report creation. If the Reports node in the FieldExplorer is expanded, the fields from each report specified as a datasource may be displayed.

Preferably, special fields are provided to track specific informationabout the report fields in the data source. Example special fieldsinclude:

-   -   Report Path—This field shows the path and name of the report for        the current record.    -   Group Path—This field shows the group level and record number of        the current record in the report.    -   Record Number—This field shows the record number of the current        record in the report.    -   Data Date—This field shows the date the data was last refreshed        in the report.    -   Data Time—This field shows the time the data was last refreshed        in the report.

Returning now to FIG. 2, the next processing operation is to analyzeindividual reports within a report repository based upon selectedconsolidated report criteria (block 80). Executable code is invoked toperform this operation. This results in the generation of a consolidatedreport (block 82).

FIG. 3 illustrates a consolidated report 28. In particular, the figureillustrates a consolidated report 28 with a first quarter sales field90, a second quarter sales field 92, a third quarter sales field 94, afourth quarter sales field 96, and a total sales field 98, whichrepresents the sum of the individual sales fields. Observe here that theconsolidated report 28 was created based upon data in individual reports32A-32D, instead of accessing a database. Therefore, a new report isavailable without rebuilding the database schema.

The consolidated report 28 shows trends across data found in timestamped instances of other reports. Thus, the consolidated report 28 hascaptured snapshots of data over an extended period of time. It should befurther appreciated that the database source of the individual reportsused to generate the consolidated report 28 is irrelevant. Thus, theconsolidated report 28 can be created from individual reports that werederived from disparate databases. Accordingly, the invention allows themerging of data from multiple databases, having either similar ordisparate formats. It can also be appreciated that the invention reducesdatabase accesses as new reports are generated from individual reports,not database accesses. In addition, the invention facilitates thedecentralization of database computational activity. For example,individual reports may be created in branch offices and then transmittedto a central office. At the central office, a consolidated report isgenerated based upon the received reports from the branch offices.

Returning once again to FIG. 2, a final optional operation is displayed.In particular, an operation may be implemented to drill through to asource report (block 100). Preferably, each field in a consolidatedreport 28 has an associated link to its source report. By activatingthis link, the user is returned to the source report, thereby allowingdrill down processing. Arrow 102 of FIG. 3 illustrates a link betweenthe first quarter sales field 90 and its corresponding field 48 insource report 32A.

Now that the general features of the invention have been described,attention turns to a more specific example for the purpose of more fullyillustrating the features and advantages of the invention. FIG. 6illustrates a quarterly sales report. As shown in the design/previewwindow 103, this sales report specifies quarterly sales for NorthAmerica (NA), Europe (EU), and the Asia Pacific (Asia Pac). The reportwindow 104 illustrates a breakdown for North American sales by country,including the U.S. and Canada. The report also reflects a total salesamount for North America for the first calendar quarter ending Mar. 31,2002. Similarly, the report reflects a breakdown for European sales bycountry, including England, France, and Germany. A total sales volumefor the European region for the first quarter is also supplied. Similarinformation is provided for the Asia Pacific region. FIGS. 7-9 reflectthe same information for the subsequent quarters of 2002.

Using the previously described techniques, a consolidated report can beproduced from the individual reports of FIGS. 6-9. The resultantconsolidated report is shown in FIG. 10. The consolidated report 105 ofFIG. 10 illustrates quarterly sales and total sales for each region(i.e., Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America). The tabular numericdata is also supplied in a graph 106 in this example.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the reports used togenerate the regional data can be invoked. By way of example, FIG. 11illustrates an expanded regional data report 107. In this example, theexpanded regional data is for Europe and includes individual quarterlyand total sales for England, France, and Germany.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, further expansion ordrill through to source reports can be accomplished. For example, if thelink associated with the third quarter sales for France is activated,then the user receives the report of FIG. 8. If the user activates theFrance link 108 of FIG. 8, then a detailed sales report for France inthe third quarter is supplied, as shown in FIG. 12. The detailed report109 of FIG. 12 provides information on the individual sales transactionsthat produced the third quarter sales total (i.e., $765,332.34) forFrance.

FIG. 13 illustrates a computer network architecture that may be utilizedto implement embodiments of the invention. The computer networkarchitecture 110 includes a client computer 112. The client computer hasa central processing unit 114 connected to a network connection circuit116 via a bus 118. The network connection circuit 116 is also connectedto a network transport medium 119, which may be any wired or wirelesstransport medium. A set of input/output devices (not shown) is alsoattached to the bus 118 to allow a user to input and view data.

A memory 120 is also connected to the bus 118. The memory 120 stores aset of executable programs. One executable program is a query module 122(e.g., a report generation tool). The query module 122 utilizes standardtechniques to produce a set of reports 124A-124N.

The query module 122 may access one or more databases resident on theclient computer 112. However, in this example, the query module 122accesses one or more databases resident on server computer 130. Servercomputer 130 includes a central processing unit 132 connected to anetwork connection circuit 134 via a bus 136. The network connectioncircuit 134 is also connected to the network transport medium 119. A setof input/output devices (not shown) is also attached to the bus 136 toallow a user to ipnut and view data. A memory 138 is also connected tothe bus 136. The memory 138 stores one or more databases 140A-140N.

A consolidated report generator 150 may be executed from either theserver computer 130 or the client computer 112. In this example, theclient computer 112 includes a consolidated report generator 150 withexecutable instructions to implement the operations described herein.This results in the creation of one or more consolidated reports152A-152N. Additional consolidated reports may be formed from theinformation contained in individual consolidated reports.

FIG. 14 illustrates a consolidated report architecture that utilizes areport as a root object in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. A report object 160 is used to produce report instances162A-162N. The consolidated report generator 150 uses the report object160 to define fields for a consolidated report, as discussed inconnection with FIGS. 3-5. The consolidated report generator 150 alsoproduces a consolidated report 164 based upon data contained within thereport instances 162A-162N, as previously discussed.

FIG. 15 illustrates a consolidated report architecture that utilizes aroot object in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. A reportobject 160 is used to produce report instances 162A-162N. Theconsolidated report generator 150 is used to produce a first instance ofa consolidated report 164 and a second instance of a consolidated report166 based upon the data in the report instances 162. A consolidatedreport object 168 operates as a parent object to the consolidated reportinstances 164, 166.

Different object architectures can be used to implement variousconsolidated report functionality. For example, consolidated reports canbe programmed to run at a scheduled time. At the scheduled time, the newobject inherits the superset of all instances of the parent. Securitymay also be implemented through various object architectures. Forexample, a user may be prohibited from generating a consolidated reportunless the individual has access to the parent object.

The consolidated report generation techniques of the invention mayemploy any number of architectures. FIG. 16 illustrates one alternatearchitecture. As in the case of FIG. 1, a database 20 is accessed by areport generation tool 22 to produce a set of reports 24A through 24N.Then, instead of using a consolidated report generator 26 to produce aconsolidated report 28, as shown in FIG. 1, a consolidated data martgenerator 1600 is used to produce a consolidated data mart 1602. Theconsolidated data mart generator 1600 includes executable instructionsto select data from individual reports 24 to produce a consolidated datamart, which may store the selected data in a table or similar structure.Thus, the consolidated data mart is a data repository that stores dataselected from report instances. The consolidated data mart providesformatted data that is accessible by any number of report generationtools. Thus, the consolidated data mart operates to make data fromindividual reports accessible to a variety of report generation tools.

The consolidated data mart generator 1600 may be configured to provideincremental updates to the consolidated data mart 1602. For example, theconsolidated data mart generator 1600 may be configured to incrementallyupload data to the consolidated data mart 1602 each time a new reportinstance is created.

The consolidated data mart generator 1600 may also include executableinstructions to produce a semantic layer 1604, which includes metadataassociated with the data in the consolidated data mart 1602.

A consolidated report generator 1626 then produces a report 1628 byaccessing the consolidate data mart 1602. That is, unlike previousembodiments in which a consolidated report generator 26 accessedindividual reports 24, the consolidated report generator 1626 of thisembodiment accesses the consolidated data mart 1602, which stores datafrom individual reports 24. The consolidated report generator 1626 isnot a specialized tool, rather it may be a standard report generator.The term consolidated report generator 1626 is used to denote that theresultant report includes data that has been consolidated from variousreport instances.

The consolidated report generator 1626 may also access the semanticlayer 1604 in the process of generating a consolidated report 1628. Theconsolidated report 1628 typically reflects the differences in databetween different report instances.

In one embodiment, the report instances 24 contain metadata for thereport and historical data content, which is preserved as a snapshot ofhow a business is performing. For example, with key financial data, theinformation in a set of report instances can satisfy the purpose ofestablishing an audit trail.

The history of report executions captures key information requirementsfor operational metrics of a business. Because standard corporatereports generally access transactional systems directly, and becausethese reports are tied closely to people's job responsibilities, thesereports contain the numbers and data with which everyone is familiar.Perhaps more significantly, then, data in report instances can be usedto establish simple, personalized, trending and correlation analyses fora wide range of users who need to read past reports. Currently, one mustmanually copy data into spreadsheets in order to examine trends or toperform a tracking analysis. The consolidated data mart 1602 obviatesthis manual operation. The consolidated data mart 1602 formats data fromindividual report instances in such a manner that the data can beconsumed by other applications or tools that could not have otherwiseutilized the data from individual report instances as a data source.

It is theoretically possible to expose report instances directly as adatabase source (e.g., an OLEDB data source) in order to extracthistorical data. However, this approach would be severely restricted byperformance and scalability issues that could not be overcome withcurrently available technologies. The embodiment of FIG. 16 not onlymakes it possible to rapidly and efficiently facilitate consolidatedreporting, it also allows a user to drill through to a particular reportinstance to retrieve detail information.

The current embodiment allows report instances to be efficientlytargeted as a data source for data mart construction. This embodiment isscalable and has high performance. This embodiment of the invention alsoprovides for incremental loading. Users can schedule reports and pick upthe delta (i.e., the changes) between instances to execute trending andcorrelation analyses on scheduled report instances. In one embodiment,the system maintains metadata to identify where the report and reportdata originates.

The consolidated data mart generator may be configured in any number ofways. The following description relates to one embodiment of theconsolidated data mart generator 1600 that has been commercialized byBusiness Objects Americas of San Jose, Calif. The consolidated data martgenerator 1600 may be implemented with the Crystal Data Adapter™, whichis a plug-in to the Business Objects Data Integrator Adapter™ softwaredeveloper kit sold by Business Objects Americas. The Crystal DataAdapter browses a report repository (e.g., a Crystal Enterprise system)and selects reports for which grouping schema can be imported.Internally, the Crystal Data Adapter uses the Java Crystal Enterprise™,Java Business Objects Enterprise™ and/or Java Enterprise Report ObjectModel™ software developer kits, all sold by Business Objects Americas,to find available reports and to create metadata on their groupingstructure.

Executable instructions associated with the consolidated data martgenerator 1600 query the Data Integrator repository to obtain a list ofavailable Crystal Data Adapter data stores (and the imported reportmetadata). A list of available target data stores (e.g., data marts) towhich summarized instance data can be written is then queried. Reportinstance data is then read and written (according to the groupingschema) to a specified data mart.

The consolidated data mart generator 1600 may also be configured toproduce a semantic layer 1604. For example, the consolidated data martgenerator 1600 may be configured to generate a Business Objects Universeon top of the target data mart. This may be implemented using theBusiness Objects Designer software developer kit. The universe is awareof the aggregation structure of the report summary fields in the datamart. The universe also contains dynamically generated hyperlinks, whichlink each summary value back to the original report instance (at theexact location in the report from which the summary value wasextracted). These hyperlinks are also aggregate aware and dynamicallylink to the summary level being viewed in the report.

The operation of the consolidated data mart generator 1600 is more fullyappreciated with the following example. FIG. 17 illustrates a set ofcorporate documents that a user may access. The corporate documentsinclude a “TESales” report 1700. Note that there is a link 1702 entitled“History” associated with the report. This indicates that the report hashistorical instances that can be accessed through a drill downoperation. As previously discussed, a report instance is a snapshot intime of the operational data from which it is derived. Most companiesrun their reports on a scheduled basis, such as every night, week, ormonth. Clicking on the history link 1702 results in a display of thehistorical instances of the report, as shown in FIG. 18. Observe in FIG.18 that a report was generated on the first day of each month. A usermay select a report instance to view the operational (sales) datacaptured on a specified date. FIG. 19 illustrates one such report,corresponding to the Aug. 1, 2003 report selected from FIG. 18.

A consolidated data mart 1602 may be formed through the followingoperations. A consolidated data mart generator 1600 may be invoked, asshown in FIG. 20. FIG. 20 illustrates a consolidated data mart generator1600 in the form of the previously discussed, commercially available,Data Integrator. A source of reports, in this case, “Crystal Source”2000 is specified.

FIG. 21 illustrates information associated with the specified source ofreports. In this example the TESales” report is selected to beintegrated or imported into a data mart, as shown in FIG. 21.

FIG. 22 illustrates the selection of a module of the consolidated datamart generator 1600. In particular, the figure illustrates the selectionof a data mart accelerator from a tools drop down window, which resultsin the GUI of FIG. 23. The “TESales” report is once again selected, asshown in FIG. 23. FIG. 23 illustrates that there are four aggregatetables (Grand Totals, Product Division, Business Unit, Category)associated with the report.

As previously discussed, the consolidated data generator 1600 may beconfigured to produce a semantic layer 1604. FIG. 24 illustrates onetechnique for generating an aggregate aware universe. In particular,FIG. 24 illustrates the selection of a field 2400 that generates auniverse based on a data flow target.

FIG. 25 illustrates the output produced after the data mart acceleratorof FIG. 22 is executed. FIG. 25 illustrates a repository 2500 with a“JOB_TESALES”. Panel 2502 illustrates a series of tables forming a datamart formed in response to the foregoing processing. FIG. 26 illustratesthat data from the TESales report instances have been moved into severaltarget tables.

FIG. 27 illustrates the TESales universe. FIG. 27 illustrates tablescontaining report instance data including date data. The dateinformation is important in helping end users perform trending analyses.

A consolidated report generator 1626 may then be invoked to createreports from the consolidated data mart. FIG. 28 illustrates a TESalestrend report showing unit sales trends for the last 28 months. Entries2800 of FIG. 28 are enlarged in FIG. 29. Each of these entries may beselected to invoke the report instance corresponding to the selecteddata. FIG. 30 illustrates the underlying Aug. 1, 2002 sales reportselected in FIG. 29.

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a computer storageproduct with a computer-readable medium having computer code thereon forperforming various computer-implemented operations. The media andcomputer code may be those specially designed and constructed for thepurposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well knownand available to those having skill in the computer software arts.Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to:magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape;optical media such as CD-ROMs and holographic devices; magneto-opticalmedia such as floptical disks; and hardware devices that are speciallyconfigured to store and execute program code, such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), programmable logicdevices (“PLDs”) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer codeinclude machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and filescontaining higher-level code that are executed by a computer using aninterpreter. For example, an embodiment of the invention may beimplemented using Java, C++, or other object-oriented programminglanguage and development tools. Another embodiment of the invention maybe implemented in hardwired circuitry in place of, or in combinationwith, machine-executable software instructions.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specificnomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specificdetails are not required in order to practice the invention. Thus, theforegoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention arepresented for purposes of illustration and description. They are notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed; obviously, many modifications and variations are possible inview of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and describedin order to best explain the principles of the invention and itspractical applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art tobest utilize the invention and various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It isintended that the following claims and their equivalents define thescope of the invention.

1. A method of forming a report, comprising: analyzing a repository ofindividual reports; generating a consolidated data mart based upon datacollected during said analyzing; and producing a report based uponinformation within said consolidated data mart.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein generating includes incrementally adding information to saidconsolidated data mart in response to the formation of new individualreports.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein producing includes accessing asemantic layer to produce said report.
 4. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising creating said repository of individual reports by processingdata within a database.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein creatingincludes creating said repository of individual reports as time stampedinstances of data within said database.
 6. The method of claim 5 whereincreating includes creating said repository of individual reports byprocessing data from a plurality of databases with different formats. 7.A method of forming a report, comprising: defining a report repositorywith individual reports produced from database information; loadingselected data from various individual reports of said report repositoryto form a consolidated data mart; and producing a report based uponinformation within said consolidated data mart.
 8. The method of claim 7wherein loading includes loading selected data from a new instance of areport.
 9. The method of claim 7 wherein producing includes accessing asemantic layer to produce said report.
 10. The method of claim 7 whereindefining includes creating a report repository with individual reportsproduced from database information selected from a plurality ofdatabases with different formats.
 11. A computer readable memory,comprising: a consolidated data mart generator to generate aconsolidated data mart based upon an analysis of a repository ofindividual reports; and a report generation tool to produce a report viaaccess to said consolidated data mart.
 12. The computer readable memoryof claim 11 wherein said consolidated data mart generator incrementallyadds information to said consolidated data mart in response to thecreation of a new report instance.
 13. The computer readable memory ofclaim 11 wherein said report generation tool access a semantic layer toproduce said report.
 14. The computer readable memory of claim 11further comprising a query module to create said repository ofindividual reports by processing data within a database.
 15. Thecomputer readable memory of claim 14 wherein said query module processesdata from a plurality of databases with different formats.
 16. Thecomputer readable memory of claim 11 wherein said report generation toolproduces a report with links to source data within an individual reportof said repository of reports.